Every Inch a Lady 00 My Woodland Fairy
by Dreamer1985
Summary: Hoss lay unconcious in his room with his wife,Shay, by his side. Downstairs the family talk about the couple and hope Hoss pulls through.


**Fan Fiction**

**My Woodland Fairy**

**Bonanza**

**I do now own the copyrights to Bonanza**

**ONE SHOT**

**NOTE: BJ2 is in reference to the son I gave Roy in Let Go and Hang On.**

**Scene 1**

Ben laid a hand on his newest daughter-in-law's shoulder. " Shay, the Doc says even though the fall from the barn was pretty bad Hoss will be fine. It'll just take time. Let's just be grateful the doc found no signs of internal bleeding." His heart went out to the young lady sitting curled up on the foot of the bed she shared with Hoss as he lay unaware of his surroundings.

"My head tells me that, my heart doesn't believe it." Shay's signing may not have been totally comprehended by Ben, but he knew enough to know her heart and mind were in conflict of what she was being told.

"Why don't you come downstairs and eat with the rest of the family?" Ben urged her to leave Hoss long enough to eat dinner. Shay shook her head and went and curled up next to the gentle giant's side. Hoss' father quietly left the room hoping his son would indeed pull out of it.

The family was gathered around the dining table as Ben came downstairs. Jennifer wasn't surprised Shay had refused to come downstairs. "I've seen plenty of loyalty to a spouse, but she takes the cake." Little Joe glanced up the stairs -as did Alice.

"Remember the first day he and Ashley brought her home?" Jamie asked as soon as blessing was said.

"Yes, I do." Ben glanced down at his plate then back at the son he'd adopted after Adam had left, and before he'd come back this past year.

"_Pa, this is Shay Michaels. Her parents were killed and she needs to a place to stay for a bit. I kind of figured she could give Miss Jenny a break in the kitchen while Hop Sing was gone and she could tutor Marie. I mean since Joe's daughter lost her voice and Miss Shay can easily communicate with her hands - I just figured they'd make a good pair."_

"_And she's really nice." Five year-old Ashley had piped up with his own eyes pleading to let the 'Woodland Fairy' stick around the Ponderosa. _

"She looked like one to me." Ashley -who was now six defended the name for his new mother.

"_Pa, look! It's a woodland fairy." Hoss had turned towards the direction his son was pointing._

_There was a woman - who could not have been more than four-foot nine sitting on a rock with her head bent down. Her hair hung to her waist and held plenty of moon dust in its domain. Hoss had taken Ashley up to the rock. _

"I seem to recall Hoss said he buried her parents for her. That they'd not jumped from the wagon when it started going too fast down the hill, but that she had." Candy -who had been invited to dinner spoke up.

"He did at that." Ben let his mind wonder over the past year.

"_Sorry, we're late Pa. I buried Shay's parents for her." Hoss had actually said those words before he'd introduced Shay. "Couldn't just leave them out there like that."_

"_Of course not." He'd then turned and welcomed Shay to the ranch._

"_Thank-you." Shay signing might have thrown Ben for a small loop, but the man never showed it -least not much._

"The thing that has stuck most in my mind has been how fiesty she is." Little Joe chuckled." He the reminisced about 'the' kitchen episode.

"_Hey, that's my head!" Hoss came running out of the kitchen and his family turned to their heads to see Shay bolting out of the cooking area signing a mile a minute. _

"_What's she saying Ashley?" Ben asked as Hoss and Shay disappeared outside with her hands still flying._

"_Something about staying out of the kitchen, and not telling her how to cook." Ashley hadn't caught all of the signs, but had caught the general jest. _

"What had she thrown at his head?" Adam asked.

"I believe it was her wooden spoon." Alice, Celeste and Jennifer chuckled.

"Well, it's a good thing, she's got that stubbornness about her, or we'd have never located her." Adam pointed out.

"_We can't find her anywhere." Hoss paced the floor as Alice and the other Cartwright women told him Shay hadn't shown up to meet them in town like she was supposed to._

"_There's a circus in town. It's ran by a man named Bombgarden. Think she'd be there?" Little Joe asked as he'd walked in the door._

"_Not of her own accord." Hoss had practically growled. "She hated working for that man." Hoss and his brother's had ridden out only to have the man deny any knowledge of Shay._

"_Look around if you want, I tell you she's not here." Bombgarden had smiled, but there was something creepy in his face that Hoss didn't like. _

_They'd looked in every tent they thought she might be - only to come up empty handed. Bombgarden had chuckled as they'd started to mount their horse saying they'd acted the fools part. But unfortunately - for him- Ashley came running around the side of the tent signing faster than he'd ever done in his life. _

"_You have a dumb mute on your hands too?" Bombgarden asked surprised, but not as much as when Hoss grabbed his collar._

"_My son's not mute, and he'd not be dumb if he was one." Hoss would have said more, but his brother started running and yelling Ashley knew where Shay was. _

"_You can let me go!" Bombgarden yelled as Hoss ran -with his fist still clutched to the ringmaster's collar._

"Boy, was that man ever doing some fancy talking when we found Shay locked up in a cage in the tent with supplies in it. Good thing there was that stick nearby or she may not have gotten Ashley's attention." Little Joe still couldn't believe anyone would do such a thing to another human being just because they were different.

"Ya, he griped we were taking his meal ticket." Adam scowled.

"_She's just a dumb mute. Good for nothing except doing a few acrobatic tricks and the high wire. She's our main meal ticked around here." The ring master should have just kept his mouth shut instead of going on to say something about the gal being Hoss' whore. Why else would he care what happened to her?_

"_She ain't no whore! She's every inch a lady! And she's my woodland fairy, not yours!" Hoss proceeded to knock the man out cold. It was then he'd heard the door to the cage open and found Shay flying into his arms. "Let's take you home." He'd gotten no argument out of the gal._

"I don't think Bombgarden will be around these parts for while." Little Joe chuckled. "Sheriff Coffee told him if he did he'd find a reason to lock him up …for good."

"Uncle Hoss picked a good teacher." Josephine piped up and Brenda agree her brother sure knew how to pick them.

"She's real patient and the boys can't scare her." Brenda giggled as she remembered the snake incident.

"_Well, now… what a fine present someone decided to give me." Shay signed as she held a snake in her arms as she came downstairs. BJ and his friend BJ2 -Roy's son- squirmed. "Now who do you think was so generous?" Shay had continued on until the boys' conscience ratted on them and they confessed to their crime._

"I remember their wedding day most." Jennifer smiled. "They were quite the pair. No one dared laugh, or make fun of Shay, that's for sure.

_Shay stood in the white gown very much looking like the nickname given her. Her hair shone brighter than on the day Hoss had first seen her and the dress complimented her figure very well. Jennifer helped put on the veil and bit back any laughter she was having over what she'd seen downstairs._

_Downstairs -next to Hoss- was a footstool covered in green. If anyone had considered laughing it all died as Shay walked down the isle. The guests invited could have sworn she was not only a woodland fairy, but she had to be their queen. And when the gentle giant carried her out to his buggy everyone's laughter held no mocking tone - only sincere wishes for plenty of joy to come their way._

While the others continued to reminisce about Hoss and his woodland fairy Shay was upstairs signing against Hoss' chest. Hoping -somehow- he'd know she was around.

"You gotta wake up, Hoss. You just gotta. No one else - but my folks- ever cared about me like you do. No one ever listened to me with their heart either until you came along."

"_*You can forget the pain sometimes, but you can't ever forget the love.*" Hoss spoke gently to Shay as she opened up about her first husband. "But that don't mean yer betraying him when you learn to love someone else." _

Shay curled up even closer to Hoss -if that was possible- She had learned to love again. People called him a gentle giant, well, he was hers and she had no intentions of letting death take either one of them yet. If the Grim Reaper had shown up he'd have most likely met her fist.

Hoss stirred and Shay bolted up to see his eyes open. "Well, my woodland fairy, what does a body need to do to get a decent meal around here." Hoss grinned when his wife shot up out of bed signing as she ran that she'd get something.

"He's awake, he knows me and he's hungry!" The joy radiating from Shay's face could have been seen by a blind man and everyone felt relief rush over them as Jennifer helped Shay get a plate ready for Hoss.

*..* …The line spoken of by Hoss he actually said in one show, but -unfortunately- I got it off a music video on you tube and not the actual show.


End file.
